The Salem Witch Trails are known worldwide. The trials are said to be “a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft” (Wikipedia). Everyone has heard the stories about the women, men, and children accused, trialed, and killed over the rumors of witch craft. Did all these people really believe in powers given to them from the Devil? I believe, with the research I’ve conducted, that there was more than just the Devil and his powers involved; delusions, tall tales from slaves, the spiritual beliefs of the puritans, and the head strong women are a big part in why the people of Salem believed in witch craft four centuries ago. The witch trails was stated to have started in the 17th century in Salem Village, Massachusetts (Roach 11). In 1689 The French and Indian War was taking place, and small pox broke loose. The colonists were dying left and right due to the incurable infection in the blood stream, and the tribal attacks from the native Americans. The colonists were constantly looking over their shoulders in fear. They turned to God for help, but instead of gaining peace they soon got more terror which I believe started being one of the causes to the Salem Witch Trails. Due to the strong puritan faith many who believed in God also believed in the Devil. Many people thought that the devil would offer up a favor …show more content…
Ergot is commonly found in wheat, rye, and other cereals and is said by toxicologists that it can cause symptoms like delusions, vomiting, and muscle spasms (Roach 11). Since wheat and rye were a common food source back then and now I believe a long with others that these side effects could be demon possessions and visons of evil spirits and thoughts. This would be a good explanation as to why people were clamming they knew of people getting possessed by demons and were having visions of the
The Salem Witch Hunt began on March 1, 1692. Three women were questioned on this day about if they were witches or not. Hundreds of people in and around Salem, Massachusetts for the next 15 months, 20 of them were executed. There was an English Christian sect that came to the U.S. for their religious freedom. They were the Puritans, like most Christian groups, they believed that an evil force called the devil tries to influence human behaviors. These groups considered witches to be the devils helpers on Earth. January 1692, 9-year-old Betty Parris and her 11-year-old cousin, Abigail Williams were beginning to act strangely. Shortly after, other girls started to act strange as well. One would flap their arms like a bird. One would bark like
The Salem Witch Trials started on February 29, 1692. Two young girls accused their slave woman, named Tituba, of putting a curse upon them when getting their fortune told to by her. They reported strange behaviors, ridiculous speeches and muttering, creeping under chairs, and getting into holes. Three women were accused of this crime, but only Tituba admitted to practicing witchcraft which saved her life. This spiraled into the hysteria of witchcraft. Three things that might have caused the hysteria of 1692 were land disputes, power of suggestion, and acting.
Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people were put to death in Salem Massachusetts for witchcraft. Neighbors turned on neighbors, women turned on women. Nobody was necessarily safe from being accused of witchcraft. During the time of the 1600s many English immigrants arrived in New England, a number of them being Puritans. They came to New England to practice Christianity in ways they felt were pure. To help guide the Puritans through life, they read the bible. Whatever the bible said, they believed and one subject was about the Devil. One of the tricks the Devil used, was to enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch. A witch could cause terrible damage. Of course, the Puritans believed it, so every bad act they saw, they often accused the person of being a witch. What
How many deaths and arrests could a few young christian girls possibly cause in a small colonial town? The town of Salem is located north of Boston on the coast of the North Atlantic. This was an ideal location for puritan and quaker immigrants to escape persecution for their beliefs. They were mostly persecuted by the Roman Catholics in Europe. Hard life styles, constant work, and disputes led to hard feelings between the settlers of Salem. Soon, girls started acting strange and accusing witches afflicting them. This led to over two hundred accusations, ninety unjust arrests, and claimed the lives of twenty four victims.
The Salem Witch Trials were a constant and consistent occurrence in 1691 Massachusetts; hangings became consistent, but the fear of the unknown became the true evil unleashed amongst the dark times that reigned upon Salem. Such atrocities were caused by a development of preposterous dispositions created by desperation and fear. The colony ran into hardship after exposure to illness, misfortune, and power struggles. Due to their religious ideology, they believed that an evil force was responsible for their hardship, and was responsible for wreaking havoc within their civilization.
During the summer of 1692, 19 women and men were hung in Salem for being accused of having practiced witchcraft. These people were the Puritans, immigrants from England who had come to the United States in search of a land that wasn’t influenced by Protestant Christianity. Being fundamentalists, the Puritans believed that every word of the bible to be the truth, hence, they believed in witchcraft, evil spirits, and the devil. This interpretation of the Bible, though, allowed them to persecute innocent people for being witches that caused havoc in their society. Although there were many, the three main causes of the hysteria in the Salem Witch Trials were the Puritans’ everlasting belief in the Bible, the power of suggestion, as well as the
Ashlyn Richardson Ms. Knabel ENG 4 5 February 2018 Salem Witch Trials In Spring of 1962 in a small village of Massachusetts, that Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris were bewitched by Sarah Good she was one of the accused by the girls. They claimed being bitted and abused by Sarah, Good was sentenced to trial and imprisoned months later she was hung after giving birth to her baby in which died in her cell. The girls accused multiple people of performing witchcraft or so-called “devil’s magic” more than 200 people were accused and 20 executed and over 100 jailed.
The Salem Witch Trials, which occurred in colonial Massachusetts, were an act of mass hysteria leading to the deaths of twenty citizens. In late 1691 a young group of girls, including Betty Parris and Abigail Williams who lived with Revered Samuel Parris, began asking an African American, or possibly Native American, slave named Tituba about witchcraft. They soon began acting abnormally and were diagnosed as being bewitched. In April of 1692, Ann Putman accused the first three people, Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osburne, as being witches. The next month, Governor William Phips established the Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle any cases involving witchcraft. Bridget Bishop was the first accused witch to be hung in June 1692, followed by
The well-known Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a set of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed
The United States of America has a long history going way back to the 17th century. Some parts of history are remembered for their greatness or because they are examples of success or achievements. Others are remembered for the mistakes or the horrible decisions made at that time. It helps us to know our past mistakes so that we will never repeat them. The Salem Witch Trials fall under the category as an event that helps teach us the mistakes of the past. With the knowledge we have today about the trials, hopefully we will never succumb to killing wrongfully convicted people.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 was a tragic time in New England that was caused by the choas of mass hysteria. The inciting incident that started this event was in January 1692, when two young girls were afflicted with convulsions and halleucionations, and witchcraft was apointed the blame. Most of the accused were women a generation above the accusers, who were young women ages 11-20. The accused were also linked to 'socially unaccepted behavior.' The onslaught of accusations made it clear action needed to be taken, so Governor William Phips created a court so that the precedings were as fair and as close to the law as possible. However, the judges had contrasting views, one believing whole-heartedly that witchcraft had torn the town apart, the other doubting the entire crisis. Also, the court accepted spectral evidence,
The Salem Witch Trials tried to accuse innocent members of the society of doing witchcraft. The trials began June 2, 1692 in a court house in Salem, Massachusetts (Burgan 18-19). It affected four counties in Massachusetts: Salem Village, Ipswich, Salem Town, and Andover Counties (Totallyhistory.com). Anyone accused would be brought to a local magistrate to testify if they were truly a witch or not. Over two-hundred people were accused of doing witchcraft and 19 people were hanged (Brooks).
Salem Witch Trials Essay The Salem Witch Trials hysteria has been imbedded within many morals and lessons throughout the course of history. These chaotic events occurred in a time where the Puritans, who had come to America seeking religious freedom, formed societies in which strict rules were set in place that were designed to go along with the will of God. The Puritan religion and the people who carried out this religion were known for being naturally suspicious of unfortunate events. They believed that if a misfortune occurred within someone's household that it was simply the will of God and would not provide help.
Discoveries show, that it all ended up to be a hallucinations due to Ergotism, contained in rye bread (Doc N). This poisoning caused one of the symptoms presented in most “witches”, hallucinations, which caused the person to see through the eye what the brain has created. Hallucinations occurred to a nurse with abnormal characteristics, as in, physical harassment, and long-winded false statements (Doc L).This poisoning was more common in women and children, revealing a more logical explanation as to why there were only women accused of witchcraft (Doc E and N). Thus, a contamination of a grain is the root of this growing legend.
Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who do nothing” (Gurteen). The Salem witch trials began in the Spring of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. A group of young girls, who claimed to be possessed by the devil, began accusing a few women of witchcraft, which caused hysteria among the people in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Approximately 150 people were convicted of practicing witchcraft, 19 were hanged at Gallows Hill, and others died in captivity (“Salem Witch Trials”). These tragic events lead to the convictions of many innocent people in Salem Village and later in Salem Town, Ipswich, Gloucester, and other towns (Brooks). The Salem witch trials are a